REVIEW:
Adrian Sherwood live
Max Watts, Melbourne – June 5
***
The Architect of dub reggae and the founder and producer of On-U Sound, Adrian Sherwood has, over four decades, developed his unique sonic signature. Sherwood is constantly touring internationally, and the RISING festival is part of his 2026 world tour and the release of his album ‘The Collapse of Everything.’
Mastering the nuances of electronica, synthesisers, drum machines, loops, and multi-track recording, Sherwood layers sound frequencies that are thick and juicy, with revolutionary lyrics from himself and other legendary reggae musicians.
Sherwood has performed in Melbourne previously, and his relationship to the audience was unique, sincere, close-up, and intimate. The Watts venue was a great size for the performance; it was packed to capacity, dub-head music revellers eager, ready and waiting for the dub master to greet Melbournians once again.
He appeared on stage at 9.30 pm, very casual, very humble within the roar of excitement from me and the 600+ who came to see, hear and feel messages of hope, love, freedom and hard-core pumping dub reggae. Sherwood didn’t disappoint with his deep bass and drum loops, guitar shanks and echoing FX, setting the energy in the venue with a night of sensational dub reggae from the master himself. I was in awe and wonderment of his ability to soothe the crowd, sending messages of love, joy and hope. During song breaks, Sherwood said he loved performing in Melbourne and he was having fun on stage and he let us know how much he was enjoying this gig and thanked the RISING Festival for this great moment in his time.
Sherwood performed his new album mixed live with a smorgasbord of his ON-U Sound collaborations, along with sneak previews of his new music releases, which was a privilege. The dance floor was jam-packed, and we had close contact with the great man, with a feeling of new possibilities and new connections with each other.
A surrealist animated film projection framed him beautifully, images of singing fish alongside floating heads of Lee Scratch Perry as the monster of judgement, and flashes of powerful text syncopated with the music. The video behind Sherwood was a vibrant collage of colourful hand-painted portraits of the artists he has collaborated with. It was hypnotic and mesmerising watching the onslaught of a world in crisis that galvanised the notion of the collapse of everything into revolutionary redemption.
He has influenced artists and DJs worldwide, calling for social/political change that pays close attention to the sensations of connecting people through the notion of the power to the people through the political voice of the people. Sherwood is a powerhouse of an artist who has produced, influenced and collaborated with artists including New Age Steppers, Mark Stewart, African Head Charge, Brian Eno, Dub Syndicate, Prince Far I, Mikey Dread, The Slits, Nine Inch Nails, Depeche Mode, The Fall, Blur, Primal Scream and Lee Scratch Perry.
Sherwood sums up the importance of his latest album in reference to the current world crisis, shaping sounds into pleasurable modes of dub mediation and balancing a hypnotic trance composition of soulful revolution. When the world is going to shit, Sherwood manages to inspire and deliver sumptuous layers of redemption and messages of hope.
I’m a huge fan of Adrian Sherwood and his On-U Sound productions. When I first heard the track BEEF in 1990 and his collaboration with Gary Clail in the album titled ‘End of the Century Party,’ I was instantly hooked on the gritty drum beats. This is a must for all DJ’s to understand the foundations of Sherwood’s thick, deep bass and dub loops with reverberating guitar shanks that echo calls for change.
Most amazing is Sherwood’s collaboration with the late Lee Scratch Perry, who is the godfather guru of dub reggae, and Perry deserves a festival of dub celebration. A particular outstanding track is Kill Them Dreams Money Worshipers from the 2019 Rainforfd album. Sherwood’s longtime collaboration with Peery led to groundbreaking shifts in how reggae, dub and club music consolidated and composed into mind-bending orchestrations.
Sherwood is more than a DJ, producer and electronica engineer laying down beats and dub FX. He is a prophet of hope with a soulful connection to the sensibilities of humanity, a theorist and philosopher, a generous, humble and beautiful man with artistic integrity.
I stayed until the house lights turned on at 11.30 pm, 600 plus audience left the venue and waited with my ON-U Sound LP records, hoping Adrian might sign them, and as I hoped, he did, and Adrian was gracious enough to chat with me for a few minutes after his remarkable performance. I was honoured and wonderfully dub-blessed.
A very cool and moving 90-minute performance, with a 20-minute encore.
5 out of 5 stars
Review by Christos Linou
